Related Questions

❶Smith was a great teacher. Back to Overview "Research Design".

Online Writing Lab

Cyber crime is the most complicated problem of cyber world. The types are different from financial crimes to on-line gambling, cyber defamation or cyber stalking. Classification depends on the subject of cyber crime. It is not possible to eliminate cyber crime from the cyber space.

But it is quite possible to check them. Should the federal government be allowed to regulate information in the Internet? Share your ideas how to do it in the best possible way. How cell phones have changed our lives? You can start from portraying your own experience and thoughts.

It is necessary to consider advantages and disadvantages of having cell phones. Do cell phones influence our health badly? Share your ideas about the future of cell phones.

The effect of social networking on society can be the other appealing topic for your research paper. Depict how social networking rules our life. We cannot imagine our day without checking personal e-mail, joining chat groups or reading blog posts. The problem is that virtual communication replaces the real one. What is the way out?

Descriptive research is also called Statistical Research. The main goal of this type of research is to describe the data and characteristics about what is being studied.

The idea behind this type of research is to study frequencies, averages, and other statistical calculations. It is quantitative and uses surveys and panels. The methods involved range from the survey which describes the status quo, the correlation study which investigates the relationship between the variables, to developmental studies which seek to determine changes over the time.

Descriptive research methods consist of case studies, observational research, survey research, archival research. Case studies give detailed analysis of single or limited number of people or events. Observational research accounts the natural behavior of individuals or groups in some setting.

At its most basic, sociology is the study of humans within society. In order to better understand human behavior from this perspective, sociologists attempt to describe, explain, and predict the behavior of people in social contexts. At first glance, this task seems deceptively simple. After all, we usually know how and why we react the way we do in various situations.

It should seem a simple step to extrapolate from our own attitudes and behavior to those of people in general. However, it is not valid to assume that everyone thinks or behaves in the same way. Human beings are infinitely diverse, and often two people can look at the same data or situation and arrive at two very different conclusions.

For example, although all voters have access to the same information during a presidential race, these races can be hotly contested, and voters can fiercely disagree over a candidate's merits. Even within the same party, voters can be divided over a candidate, with some giving credence to one piece of information about the candidate and others valuing another piece.

It is a truism that people can look at the same situation and honestly disagree. For this reason, it is impossible to extrapolate from the attitudes or behavior of one individual to society at large. To truly describe, explain, and predict the behavior of people in social contexts, sociologists must acquire data on the attitudes and behaviors of more than one individual.

Just as data collected from only one individual is not of much use to sociologists, neither is data collected from a mere two or three people. Sociologists need to gather data from a large number of people in order to have any confidence that their findings can be extrapolated to people in general.

The number of people used in sociological research studies routinely reaches in the hundreds for just this reason. Although hundreds or even thousands of inputs will give us a better picture of how people actually react or behave, this massive amount of data leads to another problem: How can we make sense of all the data and interpret them in a meaningful way? Fortunately, the field of mathematics offers us numerous statistical tools that can aid us in this task.

It is also used by market researchers to judge the habits of customers, or by companies wishing to judge the morale of staff. The results from a descriptive research can in no way be used as a definitive answer or to disprove a hypothesis but, if the limitations are understood, they can still be a useful tool in many areas of scientific research. The subject is being observed in a completely natural and unchanged natural environment.

A good example of this would be an anthropologist who wanted to study a tribe without affecting their normal behavior in any way. True experiments , whilst giving analyzable data, often adversely influence the normal behavior of the subject. Descriptive research is often used as a pre-cursor to quantitative research designs, the general overview giving some valuable pointers as to what variables are worth testing quantitatively.

Quantitative experiments are often expensive and time-consuming so it is often good sense to get an idea of what hypotheses are worth testing. Because there are no variables manipulated , there is no way to statistically analyze the results. In addition, the results of observational studies are not repeatable , and so there can be no replication of the experiment and reviewing of the results.

Descriptive research design is a valid method for researching specific subjects and as a precursor to more quantitative studies. Whilst there are some valid concerns about the statistical validity , as long as the limitations are understood by the researcher, this type of study is an invaluable scientific tool.

Whilst the results are always open to question and to different interpretations, there is no doubt that they are preferable to performing no research at all. Check out our quiz-page with tests about:. Martyn Shuttleworth Sep 26,

Main Topics

Privacy Policy

Descriptive Research Paper. A descriptive research paper should be constructed in a way that will allow the readers to have a feel of the discussed topic. A descriptive research paper looks like a picture or a photograph. The readers are followed by the author from one detail to .

Privacy FAQs

Research is the most important aspect of a descriptive research paper. Writers require conducting an extensive research and compiling as much information on the topic as possible to sustain and support the claims being made in the paper.

About Our Ads

Descriptive research paper aims to explain a person, character, object, emotion or a scene etc in a way that enables the reader to actually experience or sense the depictions described. locklear, tonja motley, "a descriptive, survey research study of the student characteristics INFLUENCING THE FOUR THEORETICAL SOURCES OF MATHEMATICAL SELF-EFFICACY OF COLLEGE FRESHMEN" ().

Cookie Info

Some examples of descriptive research include case studies and preliminary observation of a group. Case studies are examples of a relevant event that can be analyzed to learn about a specific group or topic. Observation is an essential part of descriptive research, and is the main way of gathering. Selecting Descriptive English Research Paper Topics. Descriptive research papers can be very direct and broad. You need to explain the topic in detail and give relevant examples.